Cold wave claims 30 lives in UP

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Last Updated: Sat, Dec 29, 2012 08:50 hrs

Lucknow, Dec 29 (IANS) The cold wave in Uttar Pradesh has claimed at least 30 lives in the state since Thursday night, officials said here Saturday.

The maximum number of deaths were reported from Ballia district where six people died due to cold weather conditions. While Kanpur, Mau, Bhadohi and Chandauli districts reported three deaths each, two people each died in Faizabad, Barabanki and Sonebhadra districts.

Ghazipur and Jaunpur districts accounted for one death each, while seven people succumbed to the extreme weather conditions in Basti and Gorakhpur districts, an official said.

So far, around 100 people have died due to the cold across Uttar Pradesh last week. Officials said at least 69 deaths were reported in the state till Thursday morning.

Saturday's minimum temperature in the state capital Lucknow dropped to 2.8 degrees Celsius, while it was as low as 1.6 degrees celsius in Saharanpur district, a Met department official here said.

Saturday's minimum temperature broke the last 50 years' record in Lucknow. The minimum temperature recorded in the city Dec 28, 1952 was 3.9 degrees Celsius.

The average maximum temperature in the state was 13 degrees Celsius, a whopping 10 degrees less than the normal, while the minimum was about five degrees less than the season's average.

The weather office here said the temperatures in Bareilly, Moradabad and Meerut divisions dropped considerably and that there was no respite in sight from the cold wave conditions for the next 10 days.

Fog also enveloped most parts of the state after two days of respite when the sky was clear. More than two dozen trains were running late and flights at the Chaudhary Charan Singh airport here were not able to land till noon, officials said.